Former Alexandria resident Michelle Sky Hayward has been announced as a Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa Semi-finalist for 2019 out of a record number of entries received for the competition.
Hayward now lives in Cape Town, but her mother and sister still live in Alexandria.
She was invited, along with other sophisticated married women across the country, for a second national casting and empowerment workshop, held at Emperors Palace. Once selected, the semi-finalists then attended a weekend long workshop to help them prepare for the journey ahead.
“I’ve always wanted to do some kind of pageant like this and once I got married a lot of people told me I need to enter the Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa. After some research online, I decided this would be the perfect event for me to enter and I feel like this is the perfect time for me to do so,” Hayward said.
“Being part of this pageant feels like a dream come true! The fact that I get an opportunity to represent my country like this is a great honour and something I will keep with me forever. And though it’s been a month since I became a semi-finalist, it still feels unreal,” she said.
This pageant was created for married women who would ordinarily not have such a platform and time to compete and be ambassadors for South Africa on a global scale. The opportunities that have been created for Mrs South Africa entrants are significant and create a ripple across the country. Through this journey women find themselves again and learn that they never too old to follow their dreams and become wives of change.
“Through this competition I have learnt that I am tougher and more capable than I give myself credit for, I’ve also learnt that even when I feel like I am at my lowest, I am able to get up, work harder and do what need to get done,” Hayward said.
“I’ve also learnt that women are capable of being successful in so many different fields. As semi-finalists, we are all wives, some of us are mothers and some that are studying or working full-time. Yet, on top of all this, we took the chance to focus on our own dreams as well and make a change in the world. As a professional kite surfer, I have also learnt not to put myself in a box. I can be an extreme sports athlete but I can also be a beauty queen! Women can do it all.”
Only 25 lucky women will be selected to the finalist stage, and the announcement will be made on June 28 at the annual charity ball at Centre Court.
BY NTOMBENTSHA MSUTU
